


Falling Star

by Seraphinu



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Crimson Flower, During Canon, Gen, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:15:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22555429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seraphinu/pseuds/Seraphinu
Summary: “You will not be forgiven!”Backed to a cliff, the ground beneath Byleth’s feet crumbles, and they vanish into the canyon below. Edelgard feels as though her heart plummets with them, long after their scream trails into silence.Contains spoilers for Crimson Flower. Takes place preskip between Chapters 12 and 13.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Falling Star

**Author's Note:**

> quick disclaimer: please do not view this in a romantic light as it was not written with that in mind! I am very uncomfortable with romantic undertones between byleth and their students, especially before the time skip!

The earth trembles over the din of battle, a fierce clash of wills shattering a once precarious peace. The scream of a dragon rends the air, and even the most courageous soldier on Edelgard’s side is stricken with terror at the sound. The Immaculate One, mad with fury, tears her once precious monastery asunder with claws and flames. She lashed out at her once beloved professor, in her eyes the most vile of traitors for standing with a heretic such as Adrestia’s new emperor.

_“You will not be forgiven!”_

Backed to a cliff, the ground beneath Byleth’s feet crumbles, and they vanish into the canyon below. Edelgard feels as though her heart plummets with them, long after their scream trails into silence.

“Professor!!”

Edelgard almost rushes forwards, but Hubert catches her, pulling her away and urging her to flee. The castle is falling apart at the seams, and even Rhea is forced to take wing and retreat.

It’s hours later, after the battle has ended, that Edelgard has her forces sweep the area. There is a desperate gleam in her eyes, and Hubert trails after her, as always, looking rueful. 

“Your majesty… there’s almost no chance that-”

“Quiet, Hubert. They have to have survived. They were swallowed up by darkness and reappeared without a scratch! There’s no way they can be killed so easily…” Edelgard sounds more like she’s trying to convince herself than anyone else, but still, for days, that stretch into nearly two weeks, rubble is shifted and the river below is searched, and there’s no trace of them. Sometimes Edelgard wanders the forest alone, calling out to them.

“Please… my teacher, please come back to us…”

Her vision swims, her throat constricting as hot tears begin to track down her face. They can’t.... They can’t be gone.

_Everyone leaves you in the end._ A cynical thought grabs hold as she scrubs at her face. _You knew the risks of letting anyone close to you again. You knew they’d leave. Everyone else has. So why are you crying?_

“I should have known… I should have known it was too good to be true…” When Byleth protected her in the Holy Tomb, she should have known that choice would lead to them being ripped away from her. _Everyone who comes close to you pays the price for it. It is the fate of all who think they can touch a flame without being burned._

_“It’s my fault.”_ Her chest aches like there are claws in her heart, and she weeps. She weeps in a way she hasn’t since her childhood, full of grief, guilt, loss, and it tears open old wounds as well. She weeps for Byleth, for herself, and for her siblings, feeling the grief of their loss all over again.

Her tears run dry eventually, leaving her empty once again. Foolish, she thinks, to cry like this. She’s not a child anymore, she’s an emperor now, and there’s a war to be fought. She can’t stand here and weep for the fallen. Her heart, scarred by flames, grows cold once more. The walls around it loom ever higher. If she is to succeed, she cannot allow such sentiments to hinder her again. 

She finally returns to the ruins of the monastery, and Hubert, beside himself, is upon her in an instant.

“Lady Edelgard! Where have you been!? Are you alri--”  
  
“I’m fine, Hubert. What is the status of our troops? How soon can we move out?” She masks her pain underneath a shroud of determined purpose. There’s no time for grief, and yet… the smallest glimmer of hope yet lives, one that she dares not acknowledge or entertain. But it remains all the same. The hope that someday, somehow, Byleth will come back to them, as everyone else hasn’t. That Byleth will return, and continue to be Edelgard’s guiding star.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! Edelgard is a very special character to me, and I really wanted to explore some of the feelings she may have experienced when Byleth, someone she has begun to open up to and trust, is ripped away from her.


End file.
